Farm Life

It is so nice to have the keyboard at my fingertips again! No, we still don't have Internet, but we do have a McDonald's down the road that allows me to blog... YAY!!

Life in our new little town is so wonderful. Our house is finally starting to feel like "home" and the kids have all adjusted to school and made some great friends. Everyone here is so nice! I know that sounds weird, but truly, they are a different kind of people. It makes moving here a whole lot easier.

Our house is coming along. We finished all the painting in Gracie's room and the boy's room, but still need to figure out my curtain situation in the living room/dining room area. Besides all the cosmetic things going on, my new love may come to surprise you... I have chickens! I have ten New Hampshire chickens that are soooo beautiful! I absolutely cannot wait until they start laying eggs! They grow incredibly fast, so it shouldn't be much longer. We also have a cow, Solomon, that is quite handsome. Poor guy, we had good intentions to raise him as a show cow for the county fair, but he wasn't cooperative, so now I guess he'll be hamburger before long. :(

The farm life is different and much more easy going than what I am used to, but I am grateful for it. I have been known to pump gas in my pj's (something I would NEVER do in Fay) and pick up kiddos from school with cow poo on my pants! I never would have thought we would be living here, but it's great!

We recently decided to change churches... yet another big change in our lives. This was not an easy decision, but one that needed to be made. We love our church and all the people, but not being connected to the community we live in is really challenging, and the rising cost of gas makes it pretty difficult as well. It's a little bit scary to not know where we will go, but we are confident God will lead us in the right direction!

I will try to upload some pictures the next time I post and get a little more caught up! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Carpet Adventure

Has anyone ever tried carpet shopping with four kids? Let me tell ya... it's difficult.

Billy and I picked out our carpeting for the new house, purchased it and thought we were set until this morning. We found out that the carpet we chose was on back order, which would delay us closing/moving into our new home. I thought I could handle the challenge of picking out a different carpet on my own AND take the kids with me.

They got the usual "keep your hands to yourself, no tattling, blah blah blah" in the parking lot. We no more than walk through the entrance and my kids turned into psycho's! Really, you think I'm joking? I'm not.

As I'm trying not to freak out and hold a serious conversation with two employee's, Amos is running in and out of the automatic door while it opens and shuts a million times, Kent is pushing little Rylee in circles so fast I thought she was going to throw up and Grace is sobbing uncontrollably because, well, she's a girl. In between me threatening them with their lives and grounding them for eternity, my credit card wouldn't work.

Man, that was stressful!

After two hours of madness and frustration we came home without our carpet ordered. I just couldn't handle anymore and it wasn't worth me losing my mind any more than I already had. I will attempt to return to the store tomorrow minus three children. Hopefully, something productive will be accomplished on the next trip.

On a side note...

The Getty concert was wonderful! They have an amazing love for Christ that spills out into their songs. Each one is written with words that are so deep and powerful. They tell Christ story in such a unique way that you can't help but be touched by the message. I can't wait to listen to my new cd!

Guess what...

We have a house! Well, it's not quite official but it's very, very close.

We have been renting for one year and three months, so it's long overdue! The house we are in now is very nice, but there is nothing like having a place you can call home.

The bigger part of me is very excited and ready for the move and the other part of me is nervous and scared. Our new house is in Huntsville, which means the kids will be changing schools and Billy will have a long drive to work everyday.

Billy and I have put a lot of thought and prayer into our decision and we both feel like this is God's plan for our family. We are ready for the new chapter in our lives.

Master bath

It has a "his and hers" closet!! This is my closet, and I can't wait to get organized! :)

I have dreamed of a sink in the laundry room, and I finally have one! Yay!

Kitchen

One of two living rooms (we still need to pick out flooring - hence the concrete)

And one of my most favorite things...

Acreage!

I'm so happy our kids can run, play and explore!

Please keep our family in your prayers. There is a lot going on all at once. We will be closing on our home, putting down flooring, moving, having Christmas and starting a new school all within two weeks.

Thanks, friends!

I'm Gonna Hurt Him!

Okay, so it's 12:30 AM and I should be sleeping, but I'm so mad that I can't.

We came home from our multiple Thanksgiving dinners to find our Lab's collar nicely placed on the welcome mat of our front door and our side gate on our fence standing wide open. I couldn't believe it!

The kids and I get back into the car, roll the windows down and start yelling for our dogs. (Keep in mind it's 10:00PM and 28 degrees outside) After an hour of driving up and down the road I give up and come home.

At 11:15 PM I'm trying to fall asleep in bed when I hear this really weird noise outside. It's our Beagle scratching at the front door. Yippee, right?

Wrong!

When I open the door, both dogs run in the house and BOTH have been sprayed by a skunk! I'm not talking about a little stinky, I mean so stinky I almost threw up. It was the most offensive odor I've ever smelled!

So-o-o, I bathed Buster in tomato juice and he still stinks! I seriously can't take anymore from this dog. I'm so nauseous and really, really angry.

What am I going to do with him???

Hungry For Love

Last night was amazing. Billy and I went to FBC Rogers to see Sanctus Real, Leeland and The Afters in the Hungry For Love tour. These three bands are truly talented men that have a heart for God.

I was so impressed with Leeland especially. Their lead singer is so young, yet has the kind of passion and love for Christ that is infectious. He talked about how they were "just a band from Texas" in the beginning, but now God has opened their eyes to people living in poverty all around the world. It was so inspiring. I love it when someone is so "on fire" for Christ. They have turned their songs into a call of action by being the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need. It made me want to jump on a plane and minister to someone that is "lost" and in need of all the things we take for granted. That kinda stuff makes me happy!

Anyway, the concert was lots of fun but I stayed out way too late. After I took the kids to school this morning, I came home and slept until noon! I know, that's bad. Good thing we have a holiday coming up. :)

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving with family. I am really looking forward to the pecan pie and more naps. Woo hoo!

Crazy Day

Today started off kinda bad. You know how it goes... you plan to wake up early but keep hitting the snooze button until the last second, which leads to scarfing breakfast and the kids wearing wrinkled clothes.

Anyway, at about 7:20 I get a phone call from Billy. He informs me that he took my vehicle and was in Huntsville for the day. This meant I would need to drive his Jeep. No biggie.

Well, things just fell apart after that!

I immediately started to panic because Billy doesn't have a baby car seat in his Jeep for Rylee and I couldn't find his car keys. At this point it's about 7:25 and I'm freaking out! School starts in 25 minutes.

I send Kent out to the Jeep to see if the keys are in the ignition and he informs me that "we only have three good tires."

Sigh.

I end up taking Staci to work and driving the kids to school in her mom's Honda Odyssey. Life is good.

When I get home from West Fork, I realize two out of three of my kids left their homework on the kitchen table. Last week Grace left her homework on the table and it resulted in her teacher giving her five minutes on the fence at recess. I felt really bad, because after all, it was my fault it didn't make it in her backpack this morning. So, you guessed it, I went back to the school to drop it off.

Needless to say, the day was crazy. I held up the car line after school because I am incapable of working the sliding doors on the van, and Amos has a huge bruise on the side of his head from a kid throwing a chair at him.

It's 5:00 now, so hopefully not much more could go wrong (I hope).

As we speak I can hear our Labrador barking. This usually means our beagle has escaped! Guess I better go check to see!

Bad Dog

I need some advice.

Our Beagle, Buster, keeps digging holes under our fence and escaping on adventures. This has been an ongoing problem for about a year and I'm sick of it! We are so desperate to plug the holes in the fence that we had to use the kids bikes, wood and concrete blocks! He has escaped so many times, we just started leaving the front door cracked and he always comes strolling in when he's ready.

I love my Buster Brown, but I'm about to hurt him if he digs again.

It would break my heart if anything happened to him.

Anyone have any ideas on what to do?

The Letter

Most of you know Kent... shy, quiet, sensitive, respectful, sweet, smart, helpful...

Well, at the beginning of the year, we had our first PTC and his teacher said he was a wonderful student. She talked about how he is "all business" and is always on task and focused. You would think that was a good thing, right?

Well...

Not long after our meeting, I picked him up from school and I could tell something was wrong before he opened the door.

Me: Hi, Honey! How was your day?

K: Horrible.

Me: Oh. Well, what happened?

K: ______ kept interrupting me during group discussion time and was telling jokes that weren't funny. He talked so much that no one else had a chance to talk. So, I told him "thanks a lot" and was really mad!

Me: Okay, so why did that ruin your day?

K: Because he told me to shut my piehole!

Me: (Trying not to burst out in laughter) Did he get in trouble?

K: Yeah, the teacher sent him to the office and the principle made him write an apology letter to me.

I can't help but love this kid! He is hilarious...

My favorite part: "because your Kent"

Sounds like this kid has it all figured out. I love it!